When did Broadway Musicals get so expensive?!

[vash]

My wife knows the Hamilton music by heart. Hell, she’s singing it now. I looked into buying show tickets with the promise she doesn’t sing along LIVE! Holy shcnikees! They are $400 each! Plus travel and hotel and pet sitting. That’s real money!

It’s been awhile. Have they always been so expensive? This is San Jose, not NYC.

I’ll probably pull the trigger. I can only tolerate good seats so I can see the actors faces.

[hbueno]

I'd estimate about 20 years

Hamilton tickets were insane the first few seasons - around $700 each.

[sugarwood]

Theater tickets have been expensive for 150 years.

[MMARSH]

My Wife and I have seen it twice. Once on Broadway and a second time with the kids in San Francisco. Really lucked out with great seats. About 7 rows back from the stage. If your wife is already singing the soundtrack, she will love it. Worth every penny.

[herr_oberst]

They got expensive when they got FAAAB-YOU-LUUSS!!!

[Evans, Marv]

I saw six broadway shows in N.Y. in 1963 - Tavarich (sp. ?), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, etc., etc. At that time the seats (maybe fifth row center) were $9.00. I thought that was expensive. Haven't been to a show/play in a while though I had season tickets for a long time, and I sure won't pay $400/$700 a ticket.

Edit: I just checked an inlfation calculator. That $9.00 would be $78.55 now.

[ZOO]

It's worth it . . .

I didn't know what to expect when I went -- I hadn't listened to the soundtrack beforehand. I was blown away.

[MBAtarga]

The Ticketmaster surcharge on those $700 seats is probably $3400.

[flatbutt]

Springsteen was charging and getting sold out at $1000/ seat for his Broadway show. Nothing gets me to drop a grand on a seat...well maybe a plane to someplace nice.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Really?! That’s something I have always intended to do for my wife for something big like an anniversary. I never dreamed they were that much. She loves musicals and dinner theatre but we’ve never been to a Broadway quality show.

[masraum]

Are all shows that expensive, or is Hamilton extra expensive because it's so popular?

Are there other shows that you can get tickets for $100-200?

[PorscheGAL]

I think you may be also paying the Covid tax. They haven't performed in a year, they are attempting to make up for it.

I've been looking at concert tickets and some of the prices are astronomical for that reason

[berettafan]

I've not been but the wife and kids have on a few occasions. Their take is it is absolutely worth it.

[The Synergizer]

Let's see. Car & truck prices are off the charts. Home prices are sky high. A bicycle costs $10,000 now. Gasoline now around $3.50 a gallon. A hamburger is $11 in a restaurant...

Yes, there is no inflation... But there is hyperinflation....

[flatbutt]

Originally Posted by PorscheGAL

I think you may be also paying the Covid tax. They haven't performed in a year, they are attempting to make up for it.

I've been looking at concert tickets and some of the prices are astronomical for that reason

Sounds right. I went to see Avenue Q with Flatbuttette 6 years ago for $50 a seat but top shows have been $$$s for a long time.

[LWJ]

I think tix are more like 150 in Portland. Of course, that is what Mrs LWJ tells me. I don’t buy them.

(On reflection? Maybe GREAT seats are 400. Her tix are merely very good.)

[hbueno]

Originally Posted by masraum

Are all shows that expensive, or is Hamilton extra expensive because it's so popular?

Are there other shows that you can get tickets for $100-200?

Ticket prices vary in relation to the popularity of the show - at least in NYC. I've seen Broadway shows for way less than the outrageous prices charged for Hamilton.

[Seahawk]

I love live theater, live Jazz and big ol' orchestras.

We go once a year to the Kennedy Center, sometimes twice, depending on the roster of talent. I spring for great seats as well. With the hotel, dinner, etc. it is not cheap but I so admire the talent it takes to be good at live performances it makes me happy.

We have seen some great performances over the years.

We did the kids summer program for four years when the kids were in grade school - made a night and day of it.

I think I have written here before about a concert with the National Symphony Orchestra playing movie sound tracks during the summer program. The narrator would run a movie clip, shown on the huge screen, without music and then with the NSO playing the score live.

A scene from Bambi was simply jaw dropping.

Just do it.

[flatbutt]

Originally Posted by Seahawk

I love live theater, live Jazz and big ol' orchestras.

We go once a year to the Kennedy Center, sometimes twice, depending on the roster of talent. I spring for great seats as well. With the hotel, dinner, etc. it is not cheap but I so admire the talent it takes to be good at live performances it makes me happy.

We have seen some great performances over the years.

We did the kids summer program for four years when the kids were in grade school - made a night and day of it.

I think I have written here before about a concert with the National Symphony Orchestra playing movie sound tracks during the summer program. The narrator would run a movie clip, shown on the huge screen, without music and then with the NSO playing the score live.

A scene from Bambi was simply jaw dropping.

Just do it.

Our local symphony (NJSO) will play live music for a full length movie now and then. The last time out they played for Star Wars IV (the original one not SW 1). It was amazing. Imagine the full orchestra playing Vaders' march live.

[Bill Douglas]

Originally Posted by vash

When did Broadway Musicals get so expensive?!

I think they always were - but worth it. I feel the prices have just kept up with the cost of everything else. And I don't think anyone (or many) got really rich of it, they just did it 'cause they loved it.

I remember there was a place in Times Square that sold tickets to the shows on that night. Unsold seats sold off at a discounted price. That was the only way a little island boy like me could afford to see them on Broadway.